Rob Andrews, swamp dweller

Remember when Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” in Congress? Yeah, me neither. So imagine my surprise when the House Ethics Committee announced on Friday that their investigation of Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) has born fruit.

The House Ethics Committee on Friday announced it has extended its investigation into Rep. Rob Andrews over allegations that the New Jersey Democrat misused campaign funds to take private family trips.

The secretive panel also released a lengthy report from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) detailing the allegations, including charges that Andrews tapped tens-of-thousands of dollars in campaign funds to cover a 2011 trip to a wedding in Scotland, as well as multiple visits the same year to Los Angeles with his daughters.

Although Andrews has argued that the trips were political in nature – both the groom featured in the Scotland wedding and his daughters, he said, were volunteer campaign aides – the OCE alleges otherwise.

At the June 2011 Edinburgh wedding, the OCE said Andrews “engaged in no political activity, gave no political speeches, raised no campaign funds, and did not discuss his campaign with [the groom, Scott Street] or any member of Representative Andrews’ campaign staff.”

Surrounding the Los Angeles trips, the OCE found that “his daughters’ airfare, meals, lodging, and other potential expenses were all paid for by his congressional campaign committee.”

“Representative Andrews provided testimony that his daughters acted in a volunteer campaign staff role while there, a claim not supported by the evidence obtained,” the 244-page OCE report added.

New Jersey used to have a crusading U.S. Attorney who put crooked politicians in jail. Now we’ve got Paul Fishman, a Democratic Party hack who sees no evil when it comes to his cronies and friends of Barry.

The pattern of Democrats who abuse their campaign funds is unmistakable. And unprosecuted.